


luke patterson is a rainbow (and reggie is a sucker for green eyes)

by raspberryghoulaid



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Mercer is There For His Bandmates, Based Off of That One Scene, Bisexual Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Comfort, Fluff, Found Family, Idiots in Love, Julie Molina Is A Good Friend, Luke Has Chemistry With Everyone But Only One Person Matters, M/M, Pansexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Post-Death Sunset Curve, Reggie Does Cry in This Be Warned, Soulmates, Sunset Curve, soulmate colors, you know which one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28822323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberryghoulaid/pseuds/raspberryghoulaid
Summary: ruke soulmate au where the colors come alive for soulmates, and after teasing luke about his chemistry with julie, reggie's hit with the startling realization that luke patterson has the prettiest green eyes.
Relationships: Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 220





	luke patterson is a rainbow (and reggie is a sucker for green eyes)

It happens the moment Luke puts pressure to Reggie’s lips, his fingers warm and soft and slightly smudging the cherry chapstick Reggie had applied earlier. He blinks, and it’s like he’s seeing the world in an entirely different light, where shades of grey become vibrant hues of greens and blues and oranges, and the boy before him comes alive with color. As Luke’s fingers slip from his mouth, so does the cocky smirk from his face, the other boy taking a step back from the bassist. “Oh my God.” Luke whispers, just audibly enough for Reggie to hear, and it’s only then that the gravity of what just happened sets in. 

Reggie’s been dancing around whatever feelings he has for Luke for ages, because he likes girls and he _knows_ he likes girls and that’s all he needs to latch onto to push this little Luke problem that’s been continuously growing since 1992 out of his mind. _This_ , however, feels like a steamroller to everything he’d been building, a threat to the walls he’d been putting up to block the inevitable realization that was his painfully obvious feelings for his bandmate. Somewhere outside of the bubble he and Luke have created, Alex says something about chemistry, and Reggie's dragged back to reality. 

Clearing his throat, he makes a sloppy attempt at recovery, forcing a smile onto his face. “Girls, am I right?” He looks pointedly at Luke, who’s eyes flicker with something Reggie isn’t able to decipher before matching Reggie’s painted expression. 

“Right.” Is all he says before turning his attention back to the sheets of music laid out before him. Sparing a quick glance at his remaining bandmate, Reggie recognizes the cynicism in the blonde boy’s gaze immediately, so he focuses back on his bass and tries (and fails) not to notice the complete and utter dejection in Luke’s eyes. 

\--------------------

It’s safe to say Reggie becomes really good at avoiding the _hell_ out of Luke after that day. It evolves into his routine: leaving as soon as rehearsal is finished, or avoiding the studio entirely when Alex is away with Willie, and spending _a lot_ of time with Julie in her room. She doesn’t seem to mind that part, tells him one day while they’re making friendship bracelets that it feels like having an older brother around, and that makes him smile. Sometimes he feels guilty when Flynn comes over and instead of poofing out like he usually would, Reggie’s now a part of their conversations, even if Julie has to translate for him (for obvious reasons). Overall, he likes hanging out with her, even if he misses a certain brown-haired, green eyed guitarist. 

She never asks him why he’s here, or why he isn’t with Luke or Alex, and he likes that, too. “I think you made a good choice, Reg.” She says, keeping her eyes glued to his nails as he drags the brush across them with delicate strokes. This has also become a habit of theirs, as well as something he’s kind of always secretly wanted to do but didn’t dare to when he was alive; in addition to it being the nineties, Reggie was quite sure his parents would’ve had something to say about their son wanting to paint his nails, and he really didn’t need to give his dad any more reason to look down on him or add to his collection of bruises. So when they’d discovered Julie could touch them, you can only guess how eager he’d been to ask her to help him with this.

“I’ve always thought red was an underrated color, you know?” Reggie responds, breathing carefully on the hand Julie isn’t working on to dry the polish. He’s taken back to over a week ago, visions of strawberry-red lips and flushed cheeks making his heart skip a beat, and he quickly shakes the images from his head. “Everyone always chooses blue, why _blue_?” His brow creases in question, and he’s hit with another wave of reminiscence. _Your blue sweatshirt, blue like the lockers at school where we first met, blue oceans where you first told me you loved me, except you hadn’t meant it in the way I wanted you to_. Reggie bites down on his lip and squeezes his eyes shut so hard he gets a headache. _Stop_. 

When he opens them, Julie’s gaping at him, her movements on his nails faltering. “You said you wanted red,” She says slowly, as if all the pieces to some bigger puzzle Reggie can’t see are slotting into place. “When I asked you what color, you took this bottle, and you said _you wanted red_.” Her voice drops, and it finally dawns on him.

“Julie-” His hand starts to tremble where it rests in hers, and he’s suddenly all too aware of the beads of sweat sliding down his back and the way the tag on his shirt scratches at his skin. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The astonished expression on her face shifts into a grin in record time, as she throws herself at the boy across from her. “Reggie, I’m so happy for you!” Her arms wind around his shoulders, her voice muffled by the material of his leather jacket. He doesn’t return the embrace, his body stiffening in her hold, and it causes her to pull back, her eyes clouding with worry. “Reggie, what’s wrong?” She moves her palm to cradle his face, and he leans into the touch instinctively, the tears welling in his eyes unable to be stifled. “Who is it?” She says quietly, moving closer to him. 

Reggie wants to evaporate then and there, but he knows she’ll only come after him if he does. She isn’t going to let this go, Reggie has already given her too many reasons not to. He takes a shaky breath, reaches for her hand to ground him, and hangs his head in defeat. “Luke.” He hates how small his voice is when he says it, hates that he even says it in the first place because it feels like he’s intruding on something he shouldn’t. You’d have to be blind not to see the way Julie and Luke orbit each other, how entirely _untouchable_ they are and how perfectly their souls align. The minute Reggie had opened his eyes that day in the studio he knew he was robbing them of everything that they could be and it makes him _sick_. 

“Reggie,” Julie angles his head to meet his gaze, and the look in her eyes is anything but resentful. “It’s okay.” She says softly before pulling him back into a hug, this time Reggie letting himself fall into her arms without hesitance. 

“I’m sorry,” He chokes, feels his tears soak into her tee shirt as he buries his face in her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to take him away from you, I promise.” His tears are uncontrolled, spilling down his cheeks and saturating the sleeves of his flannel where he continously wipes them away. 

“Reggie,” Julie smiles at him when they break apart, brushes away the remnants of his tears with her thumb. “You’re not taking anyone away from me. Can I be honest with you?” Her skin is warm against his own as she strokes his cheek soothingly. Reggie nods. “That night after the Orpheum…..I kissed Luke because I thought he was it for me. Everything just seemed to add up, you know? I felt like we connected in a way I never had with anyone, and in a way we did, it just wasn’t the way I believed it was. I kissed him, and nothing had changed, and I was so disappointed. Not because I have feelings for Luke, I realize that now, but because everything would’ve been so much easier if I _did_.”

“What happened?” Reggie sniffs, and Julie sighs before settling back against the mound of pillows atop her bed, patting the space beside her. Reggie receives the signal instantly, positioning himself so he could lay next top her on the bed, his head on her shoulder and her hand intertwined in his. 

“It didn’t work for Luke either,” She tells him. “He said he thought we were both reaching for something that wasn’t there to distract us from what we really want.”

“What you really want?” 

Julie nods, playing absentmindedly with his fingers. “A week later I was with Flynn’s, and she- she held my hand without warning, and for some reason it just felt _different_ than all of the other times, and now……...now I can see that you picked a really lovely shade of red, Reggie.” She confesses, and Reggie’s mouth forms a surprised _O._

“What about Flynn?” 

“I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.” She says wistfully, releasing his hand and sitting upright. “I think you should talk to Luke, Reggie, don’t make the same mistake I did.” Reggie copies her position, tugging on his lower lip in contemplation before flashing her a small smile.

“Thanks, Julie.” He rises to his feet as she caps the nail polish. Pausing before moving through the door, he turns on his heel to look at the girl once more. “I think you should talk to Flynn, too. And….if it doesn’t work out for us, we always have each other, right?” Julie seems to lighten up at his words, managing to laugh in response.  
  


“Right, Reg.”

\--------------------

Alex is surprisingly alone in the studio when Reggie poofs in expecting to find his other bandmate, because he knows Luke spends the majority of his days here scribbling songs into his notebook when Alex is with his boyfriend and Reggie is hiding away in Julie’s room. The drummer stops what he’s doing the second Reggie appears, his hands falling to his sides. “Must be a special occasion,” He says flatly, knuckles white where he clutches his drumsticks tightly in his palms. “How nice of you to show up, Reg.” He purses his lips, and _y_ _ea Alex is definitely upset with him._ Reggie doesn’t blame him, since he’s kind of been avoiding Alex as well. He knows that the blonde boy is far too observant _not_ to notice the tension between Luke and Reggie, and in order to evade any persistent interrogation Reggie had just decided to avoid both of his bandmates altogether. 

“Alex,” Reggie pleads, fumbling to grab onto the other boy’s forearm before he can poof out. “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry. I didn’t-I never meant to ignore you.” He tells him promptly, bypassing any and all attempts to sugar-coat the situation. He knows what he did was wrong, he just needs Alex to listen to him. 

Fortunately for Reggie, the blonde boy slowly sinks back into his seat after a moment or two, folding his arms across his chest. “What’s going on, Reg?” He sighs, and Reggie takes a deep breath, carding his fingers through his hair haphazardly. Alex waits patiently for an answer, appearing far too cool and collected for how Reggie is feeling. 

“Okay,” He starts shakily, perching himself on the coffee table so he’s sitting across the other boy. “Do remember that day in the garage, when we were teasing Luke about his chemistry with people?” Alex nods, and all of a sudden this feels like too much to unpack, especially _twice in one day,_ and so Reggie takes a moment to carefully choose his words before continuing. “His eyes are _green,_ Alex,” He whispers, the words getting caught in his throat, as Alex’s expression begins to change into one of wonderment. “The most beautiful shade of green, and his hair the warmest auburn, and he’s just so tan-” He doesn’t know why he’s telling Alex of all this, because Alex already _knows,_ they’d all been there the night Alex came home from his date with Willie rambling about how pretty and brown Willie’s eyes were and then telling Julie he liked her sparkly purple hair clip, to the rest of the band's shock (as well as obvious amusement and joy for the blonde drummer). 

He needs to say it, for himself more than for Alex, to get out all of these feelings he’d been keeping hidden under layers of doubt and fear for years, _decades_ , if he’s getting technical. He just needs to be honest with Luke, he needs to be honest with Alex, and most importantly, he needs to be honest with himself. “Luke Patterson is a _rainbow,_ Alex.” He finishes, and while he manages not to cry this time, he still feels the sobs bubble in his chest. 

“Oh, Reg,” Alex wastes no time in surging forward and pulling Reggie into his arms, and that’s when Reggie _loses_ it. He doesn’t cry, no, what happens is much worse. Reggie _falls apart_. Admitting it to Julie had been one thing, this, this was something else entirely. This was the final strike to the walls of denial that guarded Reggie Peter’s heart, the ones he’d been constructing since he was fourteen years old and Luke came stumbling into his fourth period biology class twenty minutes late. His not-then-bandmate had spent the entire remainder of the class writing songs in his notebook, every now and then Reggie offering him lyric suggestions, and it’d been impossible to tame the throbbing of his heart ever since. 

“You need to find him, Reg.” Alex tells him a few minutes later, after Reggie comes back down to reality, helping to smooth down the wrinkles in Reggie’s flannel where the bassist had been pulling at the fabric anxiously. “You need to talk to Luke."

“What if he doesn’t want me?” It hurts Reggie to even say out loud. “What if we stop being friends?”

“Luke is never going to let that happen, Reg,” Alex promises, rests a hand on his shoulder and squeezes assuringly. “No matter what happens, Luke loves you too much to ever let you guys fall apart of this, you have to believe that. We’ve known each other for so long, far too long to let ourselves lose each other. Everything’s going to be okay.” The blonde boy’s tone softens, offering a consoling smile. “Go get him, Reg.”

Reggie doesn’t need to ask Alex where Luke is before he’s poofing out of the studio, his boots hitting the all-too-familiar tacky laminate flooring in the blink of an eye. People pass around him, and _through_ him, but he barely registers it, eyes surveying the crowd before it lands on a familiar mop of auburn hair and olive skin. He takes a deep breath and lets his feet guide him before he can change his mind. “Do you even know this band?” Luke spins around at his words, lips parting in surprise. 

“Reg?” He sounds skeptical, hurting Reggie just a little bit, because he knows it’s all his fault. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” His words cause Luke to raise an eyebrow, and he can see the guitarist’s adam’s apple bob in his throat. “I’m sorry Luke.” He says, feeling a startling wave of certainty wash over him. “I’m sorry for avoiding you, I’m sorry for pretending like that day in the studio didn’t happen, because it did, and now…..now I need to know how you feel.” 

Luke is silent for a moment until he speaks again, shifting closer to the bassist. “How do _you_ feel, Reg?” He counters, his fingers brushing against Reggie’s where their hands hang at their sides. The touch ignites something in Reggie, and without delay he makes the move to tangle Luke’s fingers within his own. 

“I feel like I really, _really_ , like you Luke Patterson.” He breathes, the weight on his shoulders dissolving as soon as the words pass his lips. Luke grins, and it’s like the skies have opened up and the sun shone through the other boy’s face.

“Good.” Luke wraps his free hand around the pendant hanging from the other boy's neck, using his grip to tug Reggie to him, their lips colliding effortlessly. Reggie moves his hands to cup the sides of Luke’s face, and Luke’s arms wind around his waist, their bodies and mouths moving in flawless sync with another. Luke’s lips taste like cherry chapstick, and Reggie smiles into the kiss, finally having an answer to why he hadn’t been able to find the particular tube since that day. 

“Hey, Reg?” Luke pulls back briefly to look at him, and Reggie cocks his head to the side in question. “You have really pretty eyes.” Luke murmurs, Reggie’s cheeks blossoming a bright pink. 

“So do you, Patterson.” He fires back, pulling him in for another kiss. Luke’s lips part to invite him in and Reggie nearly melts into a puddle then and there. He’d have to thank Alex and Julie later-after him and Luke were done kissing, of course. Here, at the _Orpheum_ , of all places, with the boy he loves in his arms, the colors come alive more than ever, painting Luke’s face and running through Reggie veins with fervor. Luke keeps kissing him, and Reggie lets him, because it’s what he’s wanted for over twenty-five years and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to drink it in as long as he could.

**Author's Note:**

> should i make more parts with julie/flynn or alex/willie?


End file.
